Martin Army Community Hospital

Description+

Inspired by our YouTube installation, an art consulting firm hired Dolan to create a found object rendition of the American flag for installation at the Martin Army Community Hospital in Fort Benning, Georgia. The finished artwork includes hundreds of rescued items, from toy cars and viewfinders to kitchen and garage implements. Once installed, the flock of birds (or stars) will continue across the wall in flight.

Story+

"Since its inception in the late 1700’s, the American Flag has been the centerpiece of our country. When I was in elementary school, I remember standing each morning before the day began and, hand over heart, reciting in unison those words of allegiance to this symbol of our nation's struggle for freedom. As a child the significance of this was lost on me; I was merely following instruction and didn’t quite understand the significance of this pledge. Even with all of the history classes, war movies, and discussions over coffee in college halls I still didn’t grasp the full weight of this symbol. Until recently. While doing some research for this project, I had time to explore the thirteen stripes of white and red and I began to feel the weight and importance of this object. As I searched for objects to add to my flag, I tried to pull together items that were truly American. I gathered up vintage hand drills and rusted kitchen implements, old match box cars from the sandboxes of our youth, even the clichéd American baseballs, worn out from a thousand hands. Reflecting on the stars--which were originally just 13 stars intended to create a new constellation--I decided to replace these stars with birds in flight; an innocent motif to symbolize that freedom we all should be allowed to feel; freedom to be creative, freedom to love, freedom to explore."